Abi said :We watch EPL, we watch Spanish League, we watch FI races, where is it written that people should always uphold their national identities on the sports field? Why do we expect the fans always carry their national flags? Why do we expect them to be just Indian players, when they can be great cricketers without color or creed?
\nAbhi, I have no problem with Pakistani players playing in India and I love the idea that the whole Eden garden erupts when Shoaib Akhtar scares some of the great Indian batsmen into submission. Even if he is on drugs, it is great to watch him exult like a panther hunting down his victims. I think it is great that a retired Auusie player is proving a better captain to lead new young Indian players than Tendulkar, Dhoni and Ganguly put together. I think it is great that we get to see Jayasurya hitting sixes all over the ground one after the other. I think that Sharukh Khan and Ganguly would have still been winning and be friends if they did not let their best batsmen from ‘down under’ go play for their own country. I think they should double their salary to keep them here, for who wants to go and play for a national team with the old rules any more ? Boring, boring.<\/p>\n
\nt is great to see cricket and cricketers in their raw unadulterated form. It’s gladiator sport now. It is great to see even the normally perfectly behaved Tendulkar be completely emotional in the players enclosure, and then go to the press to blame the umpiring for the loss of his team against Yuvraj’s team. And why is Yuvraj complaining about the crowds ? I do not see why the Mumbai crowds should not boo Sharrukh khan or Yuvraj Singh ? They have paid money to come and enjoy themselves, and expressing yourself completely is part of the ‘paisa vasool’ experience. Booing the opposition is part of that experience. I am sure the crowds will boo Tendulkar at Eden Gardens if it came to that.
\nI am dissapointed though that poor old Harbhajan was ousted for a bit slapping around of a fellow Indian player. Like a footballer, he should have been given three yellow cards first. After all this is a completely gladiator sport now and we expect everyone to go for the kill and not the skill. More of that will only increase viewership. At least in football we get to see them kick each other to the ground occasionally and to see the injured taken out on s stretcher. The possibility of a dramatic car crash is one of the great attractions of Formula One. So I think that the rule against bouncers should be removed. Bodyline bowling is more like the gladiator sport the viewers now expect, and the threat of injury would make 20\/20 even more exciting ! The crowds would love to see a batsman run over the other side to threaten a bowler with his bat if struck by a bouncer, and the rest of the team holding him back. They would roar their approval and pack the stadiums don’t you think ?
\nAnd what about sexy ‘cricketers wives and girlfriends’ becoming page 3 items ? Now that would be wonderful. Think of all the young aspiring page 3 girls that will hang around the matches in skimpy clothes cheering their guys. We will not need cheerleaders anymore as the TV camera’s will constantly be carresing these new waanabe’s. Would the Shiv Sena try to the impose a dress code on the spectators ?
\nDon’t get me wrong, Abhi – I am among the half a billion Indians that are hopelessly addicted. I do not believe we will ever be able to put a great Indian team together again, but who cares ? This is wonderful spectator sport and we have not seen half of how the game is going to change yet ! But no one can convince me that this is the cricket of last year. That is gone forever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Abi said :We watch EPL, we watch Spanish League, we watch FI races, where is it written that people should always uphold their national identities on the sports field? Why do we expect the fans always carry their national flags? Why do we expect them to be just Indian players, when they can be great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-point-of-view"],"yoast_head":"\n